Stop wasting time counting frequent flier miles: Air courier services let you travel for next to nothing.

So you want to go to Bangkok...There's still hope. If you're willing to leave at a moment's notice and limit yourself to carry-on baggage, you can get there and back for as little as $60.

Kelly Monaghan, the author of a book on air courier travel, says that when he was in San Francisco last fall, "if I had been able to leave for Singapore in two days, I would have been able to fly for free."

Monaghan says the best way to get a free flight is to be a regular courier. Make no mistake; deals are available--and with highly reliable air courier outfits.

Frommer's Pick for Top Courier Company
Air Courier Association (800-822-0888)

Once you've flown as a courier, you may never pay regular over-the-counter fares again.

Flying as a courier costs 50 percent to 85 percent less than the lowest book-in-advance fare.

Joe Pita has the courier bit down to a science. With 10 days off a couple years ago, the Miami man arranged a round trip courier assignment to Hong Kong. His cost: $395.

That's really cheap for a trip to Hong Kong, but Pita wasn't through. When he reached Hong Kong, which he'd visited before, he asked if the courier company had any short assignments available and got a last-minute assignment at no cost to him to Bangkok.

He spent three days there, flew to Bali on his own for $70 for a three-day stay before latching on to a courier trip through Singapore back to Hong Kong. The trip to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Bali and Singapore cost him just $615 in air fare. And as a bonus, he was able to use his courier ID to get sizable hotel discounts.